Today was my oldest daughter's holiday pageant. She's in kindergarten at the A.C. Whelan School in Revere, MA and the "pageant" was all of a half hour or so.
The auditorium was packed of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, syblings, school staff and adminstrators. Whenever I'm in a situation like this -- a capturable moment -- I immediately to see what I'm up against, i.e. what other gear parents were toting.
What I saw was pretty pathetic. It was ameatur night, big time.
There we tons of point and shoots and video cameras that I don't even think are on the market nor eBay for that matter. I have one woman ask me "how to get closer" to her daughter in the "window." She wanted to know how to zoom in.
Yea....zoom....I know....pathetic.
Now, I know that I'm a tech geek. I'm a photographer. I'm a videographer. The trifecta results in being one helluva talented, Canon 30D, Canon Vixia HF10 slangin' dupadre.
I got a lots of "wows," "That's quite the camera," and "How do you know how to work that thing" -- type comments.
The icing on the cake was at the end of the pageant, when the principal told the parents that we could go up to the stage and take pictures of our kids. He warned us that it would be like paparrazi, so just "becareful."
As an experienced, Canon strapped, dad would do, I let the parents rush the stage first, broke out the 70-200mm, f2.8 and stood about three people deep. Being 6'2", 240 WITH a lens that gives me range, allowed me to shoot amongst the pole positioning parents. I got every shot I needed and then some.
Here are the results:
Note: Mrs. Big Guy D handled the video camera as logistically it was easier (we had our three year old with us).